Happy Valentine's Day

Elena had an exciting Valentine's Day party at school and it was quite the sight watching her open all the cards and candy. She was tickled pink with each one, commenting on who it was from followed by and "Awwww, look at that, Mommy! How nice of (classmate's name)!"

We hope your Valentine's Day was filled with love from someone special, whether wife, husband, mom, dad, sibling, child, or friend...and may you know the most beautiful Valentine of all...the Perfect Love of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no better!

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

1 Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins."

1 John 4:8 "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Happy Birthday!

Elena wanted to "decorate for my birthday", so she picked out balloons for me...yep, did that all herself ("Mommy, you have to have balloons with crowns on them! You are the queen!" Cute...), except we had to change the age on the singing one. :) Eric took us to WildFire for a terrific dinner! Here's to another year!

Ice!!!

In case you were wondering how cold it's been...case in point! BRRRRRRRR!!!

Let them Eat Cake...AND Tiramisu!

It is "Birthday Week" for me, according to Eric. So today we headed to Cheesecake Factory for early celebrations...Spinach Artichoke Dip, Chicken Piccata, and a finale of not one, but two, of my favorites! Red velvet cake with cheesecake and white chocolate shavings and tiramisu...bring on the pounds....of HAPPINESS!!! Birthday calories do not count, folks! ;) Yum!!! Let's note: I did not order both of these...Eric wanted tiramisu and Elena wanted the red velvet...I had bites of both, but yes, they ARE both fave's of mine. If I didn't have to think about the ramifications of eating all that, I probably would. ;) And the PS...I have been called out by my chosen sis, that carrot cake is my true FAVORITE...this is true! Again, I leaned to the parties with me and yielded to their favorites, which are on the tops of mine...so there it is...my birthday wish is carrot cake....haha!

Windows!

More progress on the front room...Eric has finished the front windows and trim! Aren't they beautiful? Time for curtains! ;) Can't wait to see the crown molding!

Snow Maze!

Daddy decided to get creative and make a snow maze for Elena in the back yard. Elena kept calling it a white corn maze (I'm thinking that the corn maze in Kohler is where that came from). He even buried her shovel at the end so she had to go through it to find her "treasure." She kept piling up snowballs saying those were her treasures, yelling "ARGH!" like a pirate every so often. Very funny! ;)

POOR DOG!!!

It's rough being the dog when you have to brave the conditions of the north to, well...you know...she's happily thawing each time though! ;)

National Wear Red Day is February 4th!

Wear your red today - whether you can get out of the house or not in this fine weather - to show support for women's heart disease awareness!

http://www.heart.org/

February is American Heart Month and I am so proud of the friends I know who are really making a difference in their personal work for this great cause. So this post is for you, ladies!

XOXO

My Hero

Caught Eric next door helping shovel out the neighbors...I went to check on him when I started worrying about him being out too long. Eventually he was joined by two other men that all worked together to dig them out. :)

Shoveling Out

We had to break out of our house today...mostly because the dog needed a bathroom! Poor thing! But we did it! Here's some more shots! I truly appreciate Elena wanting to help Daddy shovel...hehehe! And then of course there was the part where Elena got stuck, realizing that the snow was not as sturdy as she thought! ;)

BLIZZARD 2011...Dum, dum, dummmm...!!!!

Craziness ensues as we were attacked by the third largest documented blizzard in Illinois these past 24 hours. Our neck of the woods took in a good 19" of snow...good times! I am forever grateful for a warm home, peapod grocery delivery the night before, and a loving husband who kindly accommodated my request for more toilet paper and paper towels be picked up on his way home. ;)

Elena has been dying to get out into the thick of it, and we've had to keep telling her to wait until the wind dies down before we go out. So - LITERALLY - every 10 minutes today she's been asking, "Is the wind dead yet? Can we go out now? Pleeeeeeaaaassee?!?!" We did finally all go out together. Quite a site watching Elena try to help Daddy shovel! ;)

I would like to take this opportunity to praise my darling husband and his willingness to help neighbors in need. After shoveling us out which took forever with no snow blower, he went next door to our elderly couple's house and helped their daughter shovel them out. He is so loving and so unselfishly giving, not only to his family, but to strangers in need. I love his example of Christ-like Love.

I'll have a few posts for photos.

First ones are of how it commenced...

Family Picture from Christmas

Thanks, Jaimie! ;)